Faculty of Social Work & Social Care
Faculty Mission:
To support, develop and provide education and training to our social work and social care workforce across Buckinghamshire. Our teams are dedicated to creating and developing training to improve practice, using innovation and evidence based approaches.
Faculty Vision:
- Promote learning, development, and career progression across social work and social care in Buckinghamshire.
- Develop an open and transparent culture, with strong leadership and ongoing professional development.
- Promote a strength-based approach with residents, ensuring their voices remain central to what we do.
- To work together across all areas of practice across Buckinghamshire, united by our social values.
Our Faculty Members
Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Summit 2025
Aims
The Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Summit brought together leaders from across adult social care, health, commissioning, fire services, providers, and partners in Buckinghamshire to:
- Unify leadership through team coaching and shared reflection
- Identify and dismantle systemic barriers to effective safeguarding, including cultural, digital, and behavioural challenges
- Elevate relational safeguarding by fostering empathy, curiosity, and power-sharing
- Co-create strategic priorities that move beyond compliance to inspire meaningful, sustainable change
- Empower leaders to challenge self-sabotaging behaviours and reimagine safeguarding as a collaborative, emotionally intelligent practice
Vision
The vision of the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Summit is to reshape safeguarding culture and practice across the county:
- A system rooted in shared leadership, where silos give way to collective responsibility
- Digital tools that serve people, not processes—co-designed to enhance communication, integration, and co-production
- A culture of peer learning and experiential education, where curiosity is celebrated and lived experience shapes practice
- Safeguarding as a relational endeavour, driven by empathy, creativity, and courage—not fear or bureaucracy
For further information about the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Summit and the collaborative actions it inspired, please contact: bht.bhsca-info@nhs.net
Health and Social Care Cadets Programme
Empowering future careers through hands on experience and community connection
Now in its sixth year, the Cadets Programme is a collaborative initiative led by the Buckinghamshire Health and Social Care Academy, Buckinghamshire College Group, and our valued private and voluntary sector partners.
This programme offers real-world work placements for students currently undertaking Health and Social Care qualifications, helping them gain confidence, build skills, and explore future careers in the sector.
Participant Feedback
Hear the Cadets Share Their Journey:
Private and Voluntary Sector Training Directory 2025 to 2026
This directory was developed in collaboration with our Private & Voluntary partners and registered managers’ network, incorporating insights from quality assurance visits and training needs analysis.
This supports Buckinghamshire’s Adult Social Care colleagues in enhancing skills, knowledge, and career progression, helping build a capable workforce that empowers residents to lead fulfilling, independent lives.
This project is a joint venture between the Buckinghamshire Health and Social Care Academy (BHSCA), Buckinghamshire New University (BNU), and the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH) to support the social care agenda in Buckinghamshire.
This project is supported by funding from The Burdett Trust.
Autism Awareness
Paula McGowan: The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training Promotion
Oliver's story and explaining why The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism is happening across health and care.
Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism - Champions
Senior leaders from across health and care have voiced their support for The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism, the first part of which was launched in November 2022. The full selection of videos can be found on a YouTube playlist, which you can view by clicking here.
Social Work and Social Care represented at the Bucks Skills Show
Career Pathways
Online Flipbook resource
Health and Social Care staff work together to support people in all sorts of ways and in all sorts of settings.
In Buckinghamshire, people tend to be employed by either a Health employer or a Social Care employer and then work together to support people.
This tool is for, among others, people looking to progress to a career in Adult Social Care, those looking to return to work in Adult Social Care and those looking to start a new career in the sector.
The content of this resource focuses on opportunities within Adult Social Care.
For information on careers in healthcare, visit www.healthcareers.nhs.uk
The Assessed & Supported Year in Employment Scheme
The Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) is designed to help newly qualified social workers develop their skills, knowledge and capability, and strengthen their professional confidence. It provides them with access to regular and focused support during their first year of employment in social work.
Success in Action: Watch how ASYE helped a newly qualified social worker grow in confidence and capability:
Careers Page
Find out more about Buckinghamshire Council Social Work Careers
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